Semiconductor memories play a vital role in many electronic systems. Their functions for data storage, code (instruction) storage, and data retrieval/access continue to span a wide variety of applications. Usage of these memories in both stand alone/discrete memory product forms, as well as embedded forms such as, for example, memory integrated with other functions like logic, in a module or monolithic integrated circuit, continues to grow. Cost, operating power, bandwidth, latency, ease of use, the ability to support broad applications, and nonvolatility are all desirable attributes in a wide range of applications.
In page architecture memory systems, opening a page of memory may prevent access to another page of the memory bank. This may effectively increase access and cycle times. In multi-processor or multi-core systems, attempts to access memory in parallel while running different applications may compound the delays due to locked up memory banks.